
Class __E^:u^ 



Book 






^n 






Gopyii^htN" 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




COAT OF ARMS 
OF THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH 



ZTbree flfteasures of fReal 



Mtllts Bruce 2)ow& 




3B06ton 

tTbe IRtverdale pcese, :iBrooftUne 

1910 






Copyright 1910 

BY THE RIVERDALE PRESS 






CCI.A278398 



HUustrations 



Coat-of-Arms of the Dutch Reformed 

Church Frontispiece 

Old St. John's Episcopal Church, Rich- 
mond, Va Face p. 9 

Interior of St. John's, showing pew in which 

Patrick Henry made his immortal speech . . " 12 

Reformed Dutch Church, Gravesend " 18 

Lady Deborah Moody House, probably 
oldest residence on Long Island. Built 
about the year 1650 " 22 

Residence at Gravesend Bay, erected about 

the year 1800 " 24 

Reformed Dutch Church, New Utrecht, 

erected 1828-9 " 28 

Street scene in Gravesend, showing houses 
erected in the early part of the nineteenth 
century " 32 

New Utrecht Liberty Pole " 36 



preface 



In the summer of 1909, as in previous 
summers for many years, I made of a 
country club in the city of New York 
(for one finds the country in the city 
now-a-days) my habitation ; a golf course 
and the waters of Gravesend Bay my 
playgrounds, and a tall gray horse in a 
fancy road-wagon my means of going 
from one to the other and to the trolley 
car, or boat, on my way to the borough 
of Manhattan in the mornings. It was 
not at all a bad way of spending the 
summer. 

One thing I resolved not to do, and 
that was, to continue on Sunday the 



[5] 



XLbtee Measured of item 

amusements which I had indulged in 
during the week. Instead, it occurred 
to me that it would be much more pro- 
fitable and agreeable to take a day out 
of each seven in which to visit the 
churches in the neighborhood, with the 
view, among other things, of discovering 
what leavening power they had had 
in the community. The investigation 
proved most interesting; and the result, 
in part, is disclosed in this little booklet. 
A trip to Richmond that summer had 
given me an opportunity to make in- 
quiries into the history of Old St. John's, 
and therefore I premise the sketch of that 
edifice, — an account of its influence, its 
extraneous influence, one might say, — to 
the chapter on the Reformed Dutch 
Churches of New Utrecht and Gravesend 
on Long Island. 

[6] 



^bree fisenemes of /ibeal 

At the end of the season I was short 
several holes on the golf-course, but my 
game did not fall off (could it have done 
so !) . While I had missed many oppor- 
tunities to slice a ball or be beaten by 
my opponent, things with which I was 
already quite familiar, I was the richer 
by many hours of meditation, investi- 
gation and quiet contact with agreeable 
people while gathering the material for 
this little booklet. 

I am sure that the days off were 
profitably spent, and if anyone doubts 
it let him go and do likewise. 

WILLIS BRUCE DOWD. 

New York, March 10, 1910. 



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TLhxcc flDeasures of flDeal 



I. 

When the writer of this humble narra- 
tion was in Richmond, Virginia, in the 
Spring of 1909, he took occasion to visit 
and scrutinize Old St. John's Episcopal 
Chtirch and the historic cemetery of 
which it is the centre. The most re- 
markable thing about the church is 
that it contains the pew from which 
Patrick Henry delivered his celebrated 
speech, "Give me liberty, or give me 
death!" The pew ;. is^ plainly marked, 
and the casual visitor is mutely invited 
to drop a contribution of some sort into 
the charity box, which is conspicuously 
placed in one end of it. 



[9] 



XLbxcc /Dbeaeurea ot Itsesil 

It seems strange to us of more modern 
times that the Colonial Assembly of 
Virginia should have been sitting in that 
churchly edifice ; but we find, on looking 
into history, that the first General 
Assembly, the earliest legislative body 
in America, met in the church at James- 
town July 30, 1619. They sat with their 
hats on, after the manner of the English 
Commons; and from that time forth 
to the Revolutionary period the Colonial 
Assemblies were accustomed to meet 
in churches, because they were the most 
convenient places. 

It is an interesting historical fact, 
incidental to the record of the speech 
of Patrick Henry, that the silence which 
followed his peroration was broken by 
Colonel Edward Carrington, who stood 
not far from the speaker, whose emotion 

[ 10] 



Zbtee /Ibeadures ot ^eal 

found expression in the words, "Right 
here I wish to be buried !" The interment 
of his body in the cemetery in the year 
1810 was a fulfilment of his wish. 

But Old St. John's has another claim 
upon our attention, and that is, that 
within its parish John Rolfe and Poca- 
hontas lived for some time after their 
marriage at Jamestown. The Reverend 
Alexander Whittaker, who had been the 
first minister of St. John's, performed the 
ceremony, about the year 1613-1614 — 
the exact date of their wedding not known. 
Certainly, when we consider that two 
such events transpired within the circle 
of influence of Old St. John's, we are 
obUged to take off our hats to it as a 
place of more than ordinary historic 
and romantic interest. 

Fortunately, modernism has not laid 

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^bree Aeaeures of Aeal 

its hands upon this old edifice. In it 
we behold the high pulpit and sounding- 
board and see the same pews that were 
there when the patriot fathers met to 
consider what they could do to throw 
off the British yoke. 

Moreover, one finds history, philosoph}^ 
and humor in varying phases of develop- 
ment in the cemetery which lies about 
Old St. John's. It is doubtful whether, 
in all the realm of the United States, 
there is another place equal to it for the 
variety of inscriptions on the monuments 
and headstones marking the last resting 
places of its parishioners. Here let us 
quote a few of these in proof of this 
assertion. We find first an inscription 
for a loving wife who died in the year 
1840, at the age of 40 years: — 



[ 12] 




c =i 






Zbtec Aeaeuces ot Abeal 

"She done her duty on earth as a wife 

& a mother and gave evidence 

here on earth by her good 

conduct of her reception 

in heaven." 

An epitaph on the gravestone of a 
woman who died in 1814, "in the 18th 
year of her age," reads as follows: — 

". . . She left 

a husband with an infant 

10 weeks old to mourn her loss, 

words are wanting to say what. 

What a wife and mother should be 

she was that." 

Now conies the turn of a widow, who 
laments the death of her husband, who 
died in the month of May, 1809, at the 
age of 41 years: — 

"A widow who will long his life deplore 
Her kind Husband now no more." 

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tibree Measures ot Aeal 

Very conspicuous and mournful is 
this admonition on the tombstone of a 
married woman who died at the age of 
18 years, 7 months and 23 days: — 

"Stop, my friends, as you pass by, 
As you are now, so once was I ; 
As I am now soon you must be. 

Prepare yourselves to follow me." 

It is alleged that a wag, on reading 
this inscription, wrote out and pasted 
over it some doggerel to the effect that 
he was willing to repent, but could not 
agree to follow the deceased vintil he knew 
which way she went ! 

It is very apparent, on reading these 
inscriptions, that the older parishioners 
knew nothing about Christian Science, 
because they seem to have suffered 

I 14] 



XTbree OSensmee of Oscnl 

much pain, and they complain of doctors' 
services which were ima vailing. And 
they undoubtedly died in the belief that 
there was no escape from physical suffer- 
ing this side the grave. So rims the 
story on the shaft over the resting place 
of a native of Tipperary, his wife and son, 
who went the way of all flesh the first 
half of the last century: — 

"Affliction sore long time I bore, 
Physicians skill was vain, 
Till God pleased that death should seize 
And ease me of my pain." 

And surely there was evidence that 
death was regarded as a blessing to the 
sorely afflicted in this outpouring of 
sorrow and solace from a young husband 
over the demise of his wife: — 

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^bree Usensnves of Aeal 

"This languishing head is at rest 

Its thinking and aching are o'er 
This quiet immovable breast 

Is heaved by affliction no more 
This heart is no longer the seat 

Of trouble and torturing pain 
It ceases to flutter and beat 

It never shall flutter again." 



Not all of the inscriptions, or even 
most of them, show lack of literary skill, 
but it was undoubtedly considered good 
taste in Virginia in former years to 
inscribe original verses over the graves 
of the deceased. Some of the inscriptions 
in prose and poetry pay high tribute to 
the dead, and bespeak the noble mind 
of friend or loved one who attempted 
to make a lasting tribute of respect on 
the graven stone. Here, for instance, is 

[16] 



Zbxee /Bbeasures of /Dbeal 

a quatrain marking the resting place 
of "John Lester, merchant of the city of 
Richmond," who died in the year 1804: — 

"No pampered verse or sculptur'd stone 

Shall vaunt how lineage ran ; 
Write this upon the heart alone 

Here lies an Honest Man." 

And we may very well conclude our 
quotations and withdraw from the sacred 
precincts of Old St. John's, after looking 
at this inscription on the monument 
of a good spinster, who, after a life of 
much labor, died in the 53d year of her 
age in the year 1849: — 

"By the death of her only sister early 
in life she was left in charge of five 
motherless children, to whose education 
for time and eternity all her energies 
of mind and body under God were con- 

[17] 



XLbxee /iBeasures ot Itscstl 

secrated, for her they will ever cherish 
the warmest affection and the most 
lively gratitude." 



[18] 






•*i|«»: 



"m 






(Tbcee Ubcnemee of /Ibeal 



11. 

It is a peculiar thing how the curiosity 
of the traveller takes hold of an object, 
investigates it, and finds within it some- 
thing distinctively responsive to his 
nature. Does one love history and ro- 
mance, and is one inclined to dig through 
brick and mortar for the beauty and 
glory of the bygone time? If so, old 
St. John's is a good starting point, but 
there are other places of interest. Vir- 
ginia is rich in stories of the Indians 
and the English, but Long Island has 
a peculiar flavor of the Dutch also. 

Now Gravesend Bay is the first place 
of refuge around the end of Coney Island 
for vessels coming to our shores across 

[19] 



the Atlantic. Hence, we may naturally 
expect to find one of the oldest settle- 
ments in New York on its shores. Accord- 
ingly, we find Gravesend, which is at 
once an ancient and a quaintly beautiful 
place. 

There is a dwelling in this old village 
(now absorbed, of course, into the great 
city of New York) which is about 250 
years old, and it is thoroughly Dutch in 
architecture and appointments. It is 
said to be the oldest house on Long Island, 
and perhaps it is the oldest dwelling 
place in the city of New York. It is 
still occupied. An immense tree in front 
of it bears witness to its dignified age, 
and the garden vines and flowers which 
surrotind it have a tendency to give it a 
beauty and a perfume most unusual in 
the midst of modem brick and mortar. 

[ 20] 



fZbvec /iReasurcs of /IBeal 

Not that the old village of Gravesend 
itself has been rebuilt, for it has not; but 
the encroachments of the contractor 
with his row of houses, and the munici- 
pality with its paved streets and sidewalks 
are not far to find; and one shudders 
to think what the little Dutch town of 
years ago will look like a few years 
hence when another subway or so is 
constructed between Manhattan Island 
and the gay resorts on Gravesend Bay. 
One of the most beautiful church 
structures in the United States is to be 
found at Gravesend. The present build- 
ing is entirely modern, having been 
erected in 1893-94. But its origin goes 
back two centuries and a half, — to the 
year 1655 to be exact, — when Dominie 
Johannes Polhemus began preaching in 
Breuckelen, Gravesend, and other places 

[21] 



a:btee /Bcasurcs ot /Real 

on Long Island. It is a curious circum- 
stance that while the English were over- 
coming the Dutch in all other parts of 
New Amsterdam, the Dutch were over- 
coming the English, — ecclesiastically at 
least, — in the town of Gravesend; for 
the town of Gravesend was settled under 
a patent granted to Lady Deborah 
Moody and others in the year 1645. It 
gave them full "power to erect a town 
and fortifications, and to have and enjoy 
the free liberty of conscience according 
to the manners and customs of Holland, 
without molestation or disturbance from 
any magistrate or magistrates, or any 
other ecclesiastical minister that might 
pretend jurisdiction over them; and 
the liberty to constitute themselves a 
body politic as freemen of the province 
and town of Gravesend." 

[22] 



XTbree Measures ot /Real 

Lady Deborah Moody, who was an 
Englishwoman, had resided for some 
years at Salem, Massachusetts, but, be- 
coming a convert to the views of Roger 
Williams, she gave expression to her 
dissent from the views of the Congrega- 
tional Church concerning infant baptism, 
and thereupon was excommunicated, — 
which accounts for her removal, for 
conscience' sake, into New Amsterdam, 
and her procurement of the patent for 
the town of Gravesend. 

We next find her associated with the 
Quakers, who established the first re- 
ligious body in Gravesend, about the 
year 1645; and she continued active 
with them, "honored and beloved by all 
who knew her," until 1659 when she 
died. The Quaker and English influence 
gradually diminished in the settlement 

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Zbxec /IBeasures of ^eal 

and ultimately asstimed a negligible 
phase. But the Dutch Church which 
began with Dominie Polhemus held on 
and has continually increased in wealth 
and influence from year to year. 

By what process that first small or- 
ganization maintained itself and grew 
in all these years it is not profitable 
here to inquire. But certain it is that 
the Dutch names and the Dutch tradi- 
tions still adhere to this church and one 
can scarcely believe, in looking over the 
congregation, that he is in the midst of 
people who share the manners, the dress 
and the thoughts of the typical New 
Yorker of the twentieth century. In- 
deed, there is a vast difference, but the 
difference is easily in favor of the de- 
scendants of the people who established 
this church 250 years ago, and still follow 

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^Tbree /Measures ot /Bbeal 

in the footsteps of their fathers in the 
simplicity of their reUgion and manners. 
Many of the old buildings in the 
neighborhood of the chiirch preserve the 
ancient architect lire. They are extremely 
beautiful in the summer season, as most 
of them are surrounded with a profusion 
of trees, shrubs, and flowers. It is a 
wonder that the average New Yorker 
thinks so much about the Gravesend 
race-track, and so little about the pictur- 
esque, delightful old village of Gravesend. 
Here the tired New Yorker, wearied of 
stocks and bonds, or surfeited with golf, 
tennis and automobiling, may forget 
the toil and moil of the modem world, 
and go back by an easy mental process 
into the calm and wholesomeness of the 
Dutch period. Here the student and the 
sage, baffled by the endless conflicts of 

[25] 



tXbree /Ibeasurea ot /Deal 

theologians and scientists — ^real and so- 
called — over the truth and the true life, 
may go to refresh himself at a fountain 
whose waters, from its foundation, have 
been free, and in a place whose origin and 
history speak eloquently of liberty of 
thought and worship. 



[26] 



(Tbree Measures ot /Real 



III. 

Many of us do often repine and lament 
the emptiness of existence when, if we 
only knew it, there are pleasures near at 
hand. The trouble with most people 
is that, having eyes, they see not, and 
having ears, they hear not. We have 
outgrown our monkey habits to a very 
great extent, and, unfortunately, most 
of us have dropped the curiosity which 
characterizes the monkey and causes 
him to look in and see what is going on. 
We fall into a dull routine of life, and 
complain of the routine; but the trouble 
is in ourselves, — we will not go around 
the block to see what has developed over- 
night in the next street. 

[27] 



XLbvec /fteasurcg of Obeal 

There used to be, not far from Graves- 
end, another Dutch village, which was 
called New Utrecht. Very little is left 
to mark the place of its existence now, 
but one finds a station on one branch of 
the Brooklyn elevated road on the way 
to Bath Beach and Coney Island, which 
is called Van Pelt Manor, and that is 
where we get off to find what is left of 
New Utrecht. 

The most conspicuous thing about it is 
the Reformed Dutch Church, which is 
hard by the station. It is very difficult 
for the New Yorker of today to imagine 
the existence of such a church as the 
Dutch had in this place more than two 
hundred years ago. If one will look at 
the accompanying pictures, showing the 
first and last edifices of this congregation, 
the imagination will have a difficult 

[28] 



n^bree /nbeaeures of /Rbeal 

struggle to get back through the mist 
of years and see what the social and civic 
conditions were in that long gone time. 

It is interesting to note that many 
of the names familiar in the business 
and social life of New York today are 
found among the first parishioners of 
this New Utrecht church. For instance: 
Hegeman, Van Pelt, Van Nostrand, Van 
Brunt, Van Dyck, Corteljau, Terhune, 
Vande venter, and Van Voorhees. The 
descendants of the founders have been 
absorbed in the multiform life of the 
great metropolis, and their names are 
written in the streets and places of public 
interest in New York. It is fortunate 
that their chosen place of worship, which 
is the only thing of conspicuous identity 
with their origin and growth as a separate 
factor in the community, is preserved 

[29] 



Zbxee /tsc&euxce ot Osenl 

in a very substantial and beautiful 
environment. The Reformed Dutch 
Church of New Utrecht is easily one of 
the most attractive and satisfying church 
edifices and properties in the great city 
of New York. 

The small building which is shown in 
one of our pictures^ was erected in 1700, 
but that was twenty-three years after 
the organization of the church. In speak- 
ing of it at the bi-centennial celebration 
on October 18, 1877, the Rev. David S. 
Sutphen, the pastor, in his memorial 
address, said: — 

It was a stone structure of octagonal form, 
with a roof running up to a point, surmounted 
by a belfry. At first it was without pews, the 
worshippers occupying chairs. Afterward pews 
were erected in it. The pulpit was very high, 

* See title-page. 

[30] 



Zbtec Aeaeuree ot ^eal 

with about room enough in it for the preacher — 
in shape very much like a tumbler. Access to 
it was gained by a winding staircase on one side. 
The building stood in the old graveyard at 
the other end of the village, and remained until 
the year 1828, a period of one hundred and 
twenty-eight years. During all this time it 
was used for pubHc worship, except a few years 
during the struggle for independence. During 
the Revolutionary War it was occupied by the 
British. PecuHar in construction and prominent 
in position, its removal was deeply regretted. 
It is said that sea-captains used it as a mark 
by which to steer their vessels into the harbor; 
and I doubt not many a landsman found it to be 
the place where he was directed in the way 
to the heavenly home. 

The same speaker on the same occa- 
sion adverted to some of the ancient 
customs of the church: — 



[31] 



Zbvce ilBcasuces of /IBcal 

In the old church the number of the first 
psalm was set with movable figures suspended 
at the sides of the pulpit. These the clerk 
properly arranged before service, so that every- 
one might readily prepare to sing. It was also 
the clerk's duty to have an hour-glass properly 
placed near the minister at the commencement 
of the sermon, and as the last grains of sand 
left the upper for the lower cavity, it was a 
reminder that the time had arrived for the con- 
clusion. Some preachers, however, quietly 
allowed the sand to run out, and then informed 
their audience that, as they had sat so patiently 
through the one, they would proceed with a 
second. The collections during the service 
were taken in velvet bags attached to the end 
of long poles, with a small alarm bell fastened 
to the end. The best explanation I have heard 
of the use of the latter is that it indicated when 



[32] 




w 

X 

o 

H 
Pi 
< 

^ > 
2 < 

w w 



contributions were made. When a coin was 
given the bell rang; if it passed through a pew 
silently it showed that nothing had been con- 
tributed by the persons in that pew. It re- 
quired considerable dexterity to handle them 
well, to avoid pillars and bonnets. Previous 
to 1802 there were no stoves in the churches. 
The ladies were accustomed to bring their foot- 
stoves, and to replenish them at a house near 
by. ... In those days, when the ladies went 
out to spend the day, or to make an afternoon 
visit at the parsonage, they carried their spin- 
ning wheels and flax with them. Among the old 
social customs was to furnish the persons in- 
vited to funerals with tobacco, pipes and 
liquor, ... a custom which was sadly abused. 
This was happily abandoned about forty years 
ago. Funeral sermons do not appear to have 
been usual in our church in olden times. 



[33] 



^bree Aeadutes of Aeal 

One humorous bit of history in con- 
nection with the church at New Utrecht 
will be appreciated by the discriminating 
reader. Thompson, in his "History of 
Long Island," says that one of the clergy 
was accused of having married himself 
while he had another wife living. "Then 
(to quote the Reverend Mr. Sutphen) 
the accused alleged, by way of excuse, 
that his first wife had eloped with no 
just cause; and, being minded to take 
another, he considered he had as good a 
right to execute the ceremony for him- 
self as for any other person. This 
reasoning failed to satisfy the court, who 
declared the marriage void and fined 
the delinquent 200 guilden or 40 beaver 
skins, and also 40 guilden more for his 
insolence and impertinence to the court." 
It is safe to say that a preacher of that 

[34] 



XTbree Aeaeucea of tv^enl 

kind, if one could be found in these days, 
would never talk to empty benches. 

When the present church building at 
New Utrecht was erected in the year 
1828-29, the stones of that ancient 
edifice were utilized as far as they 
would go in its construction. If it is 
true, therefore, as the theosophists assert, 
that inanimate objects carry the im- 
pression of spirits which come in contact 
with them through mortal agency, one 
who worships in this more modern build- 
ing must have a lively sense of association 
with men of peace and men of war, — 
Dutchmen, Englishmen and Indians, — 
back to the very foundation of the civiliza- 
tion of this country. 

It is well to note also that the people 
of New Utrecht have a body of people 
known as the "New Utrecht Liberty 

[35] 



V^bvec Measured of ^eal 

Pole Association." There is a road 
running near the church, which is known 
as the "King's High-way;" and it is 
alleged on good authority that when 
George Washington, as first President 
of the Republic, rode that way, he looked 
upon the original flag-pole erected by 
the parishioners of this Dutch Reformed 
Church after the evacuation of the 
British in 1783. He went down in a 
coach-and-four to dine with his friend 
William Barre, who lived nearby. The 
pole has been reset three times, — in 
1834, 1867 and 1899, the last time being 
May 10, 1899, and it now occupies the 
foremost place in the foreground of the 
church property. It is the last of its 
kind on Long Island. The association 
contains a large membership who con- 
tribute one dollar each a year for the 

[36] 



New Utrecht Liberty Pole, 

18th Ave.. 8.Srd and HUI, Streets. 

BROOKLYN, N, Y. 
Orfginal Pole erected 1783. 





^bree Asasures of fSsenl 

preservation of the flag pole and the 
flag, the printing and distribution of 
literature, and other incidental purposes. 

It must be manifest to the passerby, 
therefore, that the people of this con- 
gregation believe in more than religion; 
they are patriots and love the country 
and all that is best therein. 

It will be of interest, no doubt, to many 
persons not familiar with the history 
of the Dutch Reformed Church, to know 
that its coat-of-arms is made up of the 
shield and crest of the Prince of Orange, 
with side ornaments giving them a 
clerical setting, and with scrolls and 
mottoes, above and beneath, which in- 
dicate the cardinal points of their doc- 
trine. On the motto above is, ''Nisi 
Dominus Frustra," which, being liberally 
interpreted, means, "Without God all 

[37] 



JLbxec Abea&ures of Aeal 

is vain;" and on the motto below are 
the Dutch words, " Eendracht maakt 
Macht," which signifies our famiUar 
phrase, "In union there is strength." 

Behold the work of the churches! 

Now, "the kingdom of heaven is like 
unto leaven which a woman took and 
hid in three measures of meal till the 
whole was leavened," the truth of which 
may be found in this story of three 
churches. 



[38] 



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